Attorney claims Greenwich band director was denied due process

Updated 8:42 pm, Wednesday, July 15, 2015

The disciplinary hearing for GHS band director John Yoon continued Wednesday at Glenfield School. Shown are Yoon's attorney, Daniel Young (standing) looking at a document with Robert Lichtenfeld, the former Greenwich school district HR director and only witness who spoke Wednesday. At the table, from left, are McKersie's attorney, Tom Mooney; schools Superintendent William McKersie and Jessica Richman Smith, an attorney in the same firm as Mooney (Shipman & Goodwin). less

The disciplinary hearing for GHS band director John Yoon continued Wednesday at Glenfield School. Shown are Yoon's attorney, Daniel Young (standing) looking at a document with Robert Lichtenfeld, the former ... more

On the second day of hearings for John Yoon, the Greenwich High School band director facing dismissal for allegedly bullying students, his attorney again questioned whether school administrators had given his client due process.

Yoon learned about the bullying allegations against him when he received a letter April 28 notifying him that he would be suspended. The letter came about a month-and-a-half after the accusations were made.

Yoon’s attorney, Daniel Young, pressed administrators Wednesday about why they took so long to tell Yoon about the allegations.

“There’s a union contract requirement that teachers be advised of complaints, correct?” Young asked Robert Lichtenfeld, who retired last month as the Greenwich school district’s human resources director, during a cross-examination at Glenville School.

“Yes,” Lichtenfeld said.

“And it violated the contract without promptly advising Mr. Yoon of a complaint?” Young said.

“I don’t know if it’s a violation; I think it (the contract stipulation) is a recommendation,” Lichtenfeld said.

Later in his testimony, Lichtenfeld said he wished administrators had responded faster to the bullying charges, but that the response had not been “unreasonably slow.”

Yoon is appealing Superintendent of Schools William McKersie’s decision last month to dismiss him for his reported bullying of two students — known in the hearings as Student A and Student B — during the past year. The director, who has a history of disciplinary sanctions, signed a last-chance agreement with administrators in 2014 after he got into a verbal altercation with another teacher.

Young also asked Lichtenfeld why Yoon only heard excerpts, but did not see emails and notes related to the allegations against him, when he appeared in early May at two hearings with school officials. Lichtenfeld said he did not remember Yoon asking to see the evidence and that he would have shown the documents to Yoon had he asked to see them.

In those hearings, Yoon disputed the allegations against him, Young said. He asked Lichtenfeld how he weighed the veracity of the accusations against Yoon’s account.

“I don’t recall it being a dispute of facts,” Lichtenfeld said. “I think Mr. Yoon, as I recall the conversation, pretty much acknowledged the events with Student A, in particular, but had a different take on acting or making the decisions he made.”

After those two hearings, Lichtenfeld recommended Yoon’s termination.

McKersie sent a letter June 12 to Yoon notifying him that his contract would be terminated. A draft termination letter was ready by May 18. Part of the delay in sending the termination letter, Lichtenfeld said, was due to administrators believing that Yoon might resign first.

Young suggested that Lichtenfeld was already thinking about terminating Yoon’s contract when he emailed Greenwich High Headmaster Chris Winters on April 27 asking whether Winters would follow up with the parents of Student B. In the email, Lichtenfeld said they had information “that could be very helpful to our case.”

Winters emailed the mother of Student B on April 23, more than a month after she first complained about Yoon and Ben Walker, the assistant band director. There are conflicting accounts about whether Winters emailed her to solicit more complaints about Yoon or to make sure her concerns were addressed.

Lichtenfeld said he did not tell Winters to send the April 23 email.

Lichtenfeld met neither with Students A and B nor their parents. In testimony Tuesday, Winters said he spoke with Students A and B and their parents but he did not interview anyone else before Yoon was suspended.

Like Winters, who testified Tuesday, Lichtenfeld said school officials made repeated attempts to help Yoon reform his behavior. During his 23-year career at the high school, Yoon has been suspended at least three times and been given six written warnings related to run-ins with students and colleagues, according to records obtained by Greenwich Time.

Yoon signed the last-chance agreement in May 2014, which included a 10-day suspension, after getting into an altercation with another music teacher, Patrick Taylor. The agreement, Lichtenfeld said, was an attempt to help Yoon save his career.

In an effort to persuade the other music teachers to accept the agreement, Lichtenfeld said he told them how he had been able to put aside his own feelings about Yoon. When his son was a student at Greenwich High some 20 years ago, he dropped out of the band after Yoon cut him as top pianist without telling him, according to Lichtenfeld.

Young asked whether that experience “colored” Lichtendfeld’s opinion of Yoon. The former HR director answered his support for giving Yoon a final chance showed it had not.

Young also questioned Lichtenfeld about the incident with Taylor, which was reportedly related to a dispute about scheduling performances. Taylor used profanity, but Yoon escalated the clash, Lichtenfeld said.

Taylor received a letter about the incident, but it did not go into his general personnel file, which Young suggested was a sign that administrators were more lenient with Taylor.

According to administrators, the letter was supposed to go into Taylor’s file but didn't due to to a clerical error.

Lichtenfeld was the only witness to testify Wednesday.

Yoon supporters again turned out in force, with about 40 attending Wednesday’s hearing. Many wore buttons reading “Bring Back Mr. Yoon.”

“I wouldn’t be where I am today without Mr. Yoon’s support and encouragement,” Jeff Schneider, a 2005 graduate of Greenwich High and professional music composer, told Greenwich Time.

’The next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 10. McKersie is expected to testify then, according to Thomas Mooney, McKersie's attorney. If necessary, up to three more hearings could be held - on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 and 9.

At the end of the hearings, hearing officer M. Jackson Webber will deliver a report to the Board of Education with his recommendations. The school board will decide whether or not to terminate Yoon’s contract.